A joint connector is a connecting device arranged between vehicles for connecting adjacent vehicles. For railway vehicles, the use of the joint connector allows adjacent cars to be supported on one bogie together, thus saving the number of bogies and reducing the mass of a train.
Reference is made to FIG. 1, which shows the structure of a typical joint connector.
The joint connector (SAC-1 type) includes a convex joint 11, a concave joint 12, a joint bearing 13, a bearing pin 131, a disc spring 14, a wedge 16, a bolt 15, a nut 18, a gasket 17, a dust cover 121 and the like.
The joint bearing 13 is fixed to the convex joint 11, and a transverse bearing pin 131 is provided in the joint bearing 13. In FIG. 1, the concave joint 12 has a transverse mounting hole, and the concave joint 12 for accommodating the joint bearing 13 falls from upside to downside, so that the joint bearing 13 is placed in the transverse mounting hole from upside to downside, and thus front-rear displacement and left-right displacement of the joint bearing 13 are restricted. In addition, the wedge 16 is provided on each of two sides of the concave joint 12, and is fixed in the concave joint 12 by means of a bolt 15 vertically inserted. As illustrated, the bolt 15 in turn passes through the disc spring 14, the wedge 16 and the gasket 17 in a vertical direction, and is then inserted into the concave joint 12 and fixed by the nut 18.
A bevel 131a is provided at each of two ends of the bearing pin 131, and is at an angle of about 10 degrees with respect to the vertical direction. After the two wedges 16 are positioned, bevels 131a of the two wedges 16 at the two sides cooperate with the bevels 131a at two ends of the bearing pin 131 to form a self-locking, so that a connection gap between the concave joint and the convex joint 11 is eliminated. Even when the wedge 16 is worn, the self-locking is always formed between the wedge 16 and the bevel 131a of the bearing pin 131 under the action of the disc spring 14.
Since the above-mentioned joint connector is horizontally, vertically and laterally rotated by the joint bearing 13, the connector is primarily subjected to a longitudinal traction, a compressive force, and a vertical load of the vehicle. Specifically, the transmission paths of the load in various directions are as follows,
traction force: from the convex joint 11 through the joint bearing 13 and the bearing pin 131 to the concave joint 12;
compressive force: from the convex joint 11 through the joint bearing 13, the bearing pin 131 and the wedge 16 to the concave joint 12;
vertical force: from the convex joint 11 through the joint bearing 13 to the concave joint 12.
The above joint connector has the following technical issues.
Firstly, the traction force or the compressive force of the vehicle may act on the concave joint 12 by the joint bearing 13, therefore, the concave joint 12 is apt to be worn. Further the concave joint 12 and the convex joint 11 are both fixed to the vehicle by welding, and the concave joint 12 is expensive and hard to repair. Generally, if the concave joint 12 is worn and cannot be used, the entire car body may be unserviceable accordingly.
Secondly, the traction force, the compression force and the vertical force of the vehicle all act on the concave joint 12 via the joint bearing 13, therefore, the requirements posed on the joint bearing 13 are very strict and the service life of the joint connector relies on the service life of the joint bearing 13 to a large extent.
Thirdly, the traction force and the compressive force are transmitted through the bearing pin 131, therefore the bearing pin 131 and the joint bearing 13 are integrally arranged to meet the strength requirement. In this case, the joint bearing 13 can only be placed into the transverse mounting hole of the concave joint 12 from upside to downside, thus, it is necessary to jack up the car body provided with the convex joint 11, and then perform subsequent assembly. Therefore, the assembly process is cumbersome and difficult.
In view of this, a technical issue to be addressed by those skilled in the art is to improve wear of the concave joint and prolong the service life of the concave joint and even the entire vehicle.